


Taking Chances

by bibliomaniac



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: M/M, based on that post floating around tumblr, if nobody else is gonna write cahnmarch i'll do it myself darn it, why y'all sleepin on this amazing ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 03:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11865651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bibliomaniac/pseuds/bibliomaniac
Summary: Damien gives Craig his number at a wedding.Sometimes having courage pays off.(aka the one based off that post where the dude gave the other dude his number at a wedding and got shot down, except with a happy ending and my favorite dads bc cahnmarch is life)





	Taking Chances

-1- 

Damien adjusts his tie, sighing and smoothing down his hair. He can do this. It’s just a number. And, sure, maybe the person that he’s hoping will _accept_ this number is the hottest man he’s ever seen, and sure, Damien hasn’t given out his number since he got divorced fourteen years ago, and sure, Damien is an anxious wreck, but…okay, he’s lost his train of thought, but the point is he’s going to give this Extremely Attractive Man his number, and then he’s going to power-walk away, and maybe things will go his way and probably they won’t but either way things will be fine.

He walks out of the bathroom of the venue in which his college friend’s wedding is being held and pastes on a nervous smile as he makes a beeline for the Extremely Attractive Man. When he reaches him, he colors slightly as every single word he’s been planning on saying vacates the premises. Why is talking so _hard?_ “U-um,” he stutters, “I was wondering if you might do me the honor of telling me your name?”

Extremely Attractive Man looks confused, then he grins. “Oh, sure, dude! I’m Craig Cahn. What’s yours?”

Damien is too busy melting over that grin to say anything other than, “Damien Bloodmarch, at your service.”

There’s an incredibly awkward moment, during which Damien shuffles and Craig’s smile begins to become more strained, until Craig finally asks, “So, did you need something?”

“Oh! Right. I, ah…I’ve been noticing you all night, and I…” Damien fishes around in his pocket for the slip of paper with his number on it, then presents it, eyes squeezing closed. Craig’s fingers brush against his as he takes it from Damien, and Damien turns even more red. “Right, um, that’s my number, so…you have that now. Thank you for your time!”

Then he stiffly marches away, and he hides in a corner until it’s an acceptable time to leave, and all the while he curses himself for being an inelegant cad. Oh well. It’s done now.

 

-2-

His phone buzzes a few days later while he’s at work. The message is from an unknown number, and it reads:

“Hey, dude! This is Craig from the wedding the other day. I just wanted to let you know that I’m actually married, but I think it’s super brave that you put yourself out there like that! Keep on keeping on, bro.”

Damien, who hadn’t thought he would get a response at all, wonders whether this might be worse. He pounds his head against the edge of his desk. He hadn’t wanted to be _brave,_ he just had wanted to get _laid,_ for God’s sake.

Maybe no more number escapades for him.

 

-3-

It’s two years later when a moving truck rumbles into the small cul-de-sac, bearing two energetic twins, an infant, and one Craig Cahn.

Damien, who lives right across from the house being moved into, watches the whole thing in horror. He had never really forgotten the whole incident, and he had definitely not forgotten Craig’s face. This is going to be incredibly awkward. Damien decides right then and there that the only way to make this not awkward is to become a recluse.

 

-4-

Things are awkward anyway, because Craig rings the doorbell and Damien doesn’t answer even though he’s home, and Joseph holds a barbecue and Damien doesn’t go, and Damien leaves his house every morning and runs to his car on the street like he’s being chased by bats straight out of his own personal Hell. They become even more awkward when Craig confronts him about it.

He catches him on the way to his car, expression inscrutable. “Dude,” he says, “Why are you avoiding me?” 

Damien hides his face and squeaks, “I’m not avoiding you.”

“Bullcrap. Joseph says you always come to his barbecues, and I saw you at the window when I rang your doorbell, and you always look at my house when you’re doing that weird run out of your house every morning. What did I do?”

And Damien can’t do this anymore, so he slowly shows his face and says miserably, “I didn’t want to show you this.” 

Craig blinks uncertainly, then asks, “Your face?” There’s no recognition in his expression, only confusion.

“My—yes, my face! Don’t you remember?”

“Remember what?” 

“I gave you my number at a wedding two years ago and you were _married_ and _God_ I completely humiliated myself and I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of creep that followed you here when I swear I’ve been living here for eleven years—” 

Craig’s eyes narrow, then widen. “Ohh! You’re that dude! I remember you now, sure.” He gives another one of those easy grins. “I thought I told you I thought you were brave. You didn’t humiliate yourself, it was cool. And anyway, I’m not married anymore, so no need to be weird around me, okay? We’re just two dudes who live in the same cul-de-sac. Easy as that.”

Damien stares at Craig, then gives a grimace that he hopes can pass as a smile in a pinch. “Of course. Easy as that.”

 

-5-

It is not easy as that, because after that Craig and Damien start seeing each other more, and Damien is _incredibly gay._ Like, he’ll be over playing with River and Craig will make a totally innocuous comment about how he looks cute with a baby and Damien will _die._ Or Craig will invite Damien to work out with him, and Damien will accept because how could he not, and Craig will take his shirt off and Damien will make a noise not dissimilar to a death rattle. Or a million other things, and eventually they’re friends and they spend a lot of time together talking about the difficulties of raising kids on your own, and about their childhoods spent with Craig’s strict military father and Damien’s cold, distant mother, and about the burdens they put on themselves, and Craig is sweet and kind and considerate and strong and hard-working and Still Attractive, and Damien doesn’t want to call it love but he doesn’t know another word that fits better.

But Craig doesn’t think of him like that, and Damien’s been shot down before, so he suffers in silence and nothing changes.

 

-6-

Everything changes. The new guy in the cul-de-sac and Hugo Vega are getting married, and Craig’s the best man for the new guy—old college roommates, apparently—and Hugo asks Damien to be his best man too, so they’re at a wedding again.

It’s a beautiful ceremony, but Damien can’t help but feel a bit melancholy. It’s times like this that he’s reminded he’s alone. Or—well, he has Lucien, and that should be enough for him, but he certainly wouldn’t mind some company on cold nights.

“Hey,” comes a smiling voice from in front of Damien, and Damien looks up only to find Craig.

“Oh, hello,” he says, hoping that his obvious step up in mood isn’t _too_ obvious.

Craig looks a bit nervous, but he’s still grinning, like always. “Why aren’t you dancing?”

“Nobody to dance with,” Damien says dryly. “Unless I’ve missed a concourse of eligible men waiting to fill up my dance card.”

“Hm.” Craig’s grin only gets wider. “Hey, so. I’ve been wanting to say something to you for a while, but I couldn’t really find a good moment. I think this’ll do, though.”

“Oh? What’s that?” 

“I’ve been noticing you all night,” Craig says, stepping closer to Damien. “And, uh…you already have my number, so I can’t really do the other thing, but…”

Damien blinks up at him, barely daring to hope. “Craig?” 

Craig’s grin falls, and he laughs nervously. “God, you made this look a lot easier. You really are brave. Just—I care a lot about you, dude, and if you’d still have me, I’d like to see if we could take this somewhere.”

Damien can’t help but continue staring, eyes luminous. He may cry.

“Don’t look at me like that or I’m going to want to kiss you! Haha.” He’s scratching the back of his neck like he always does when he’s nervous, and God, this is real, isn’t it.

“Dance with me?” Damien breathes, and Craig looks at him.

“I think I was sort of wishing you had asked that all along,” he says, and he’s beaming now, and Damien isn’t brave, not at all, but he’s brave enough to kiss Craig right then, and that’s enough for him.

(And, years later, they will be at their own wedding and people will be laughing over their how-they-met-each-other story and they’ll be laughing too, and their eyes will meet and Craig will smile softly, and Damien will be glad that he took a chance.)

**Author's Note:**

> tysm for reading! my tumblr is at [anuninterestingperson](http://anuninterestingperson.tumblr.com). let's scream about dads together!


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